Modeling lunar response to gravitational waves using normal-mode approach and tidal forcing

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Main Authors: Majstorović, Josipa, Vidal, Léon, Lognonné, Philippe
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Majstorović, Josipa
Vidal, Léon
Lognonné, Philippe
author_facet Majstorović, Josipa
Vidal, Léon
Lognonné, Philippe
contents In the light of the recent advances in lunar space missions a great interest into using Moon as a future environment for gravitational waves (GWs) detectors has been initiated. Moon offers a unique environment for such detectors due to constrained noise sources, since unlike Earth it does not have ocean and atmosphere. In this paper, we further explore the idea of using Moon as a giant resonator of GWs, a proposal that was first introduced by Weber in 1969. This idea is relaying on the theory how GWs interact with free masses and finally elastic solids, such as is a planet to some approximation. We start by carefully setting up General Relativity (physics) and elastic theory (geophysics) background to be able to derive analytically the coupling between GWs and elastic solids through associated equations of motion. Once the analytical solution is derived, we explore the parameter space this interaction depends on. This eventually provides us with the transfer function, which defines the frequency band of the interest. We show how this interaction robustly depends on the regolith structure by altering the initial lunar model and exploring different regolith models. Our results show that detection might be troublesome in the high frequency regime between 0.1 and 1 Hz, without beforehand constraining the regolith structure with geophysical methods. Finally, we discuss what are the implications of detecting these signals with the future GW detectors build on the Moon.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_09559
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Modeling lunar response to gravitational waves using normal-mode approach and tidal forcing
Majstorović, Josipa
Vidal, Léon
Lognonné, Philippe
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
In the light of the recent advances in lunar space missions a great interest into using Moon as a future environment for gravitational waves (GWs) detectors has been initiated. Moon offers a unique environment for such detectors due to constrained noise sources, since unlike Earth it does not have ocean and atmosphere. In this paper, we further explore the idea of using Moon as a giant resonator of GWs, a proposal that was first introduced by Weber in 1969. This idea is relaying on the theory how GWs interact with free masses and finally elastic solids, such as is a planet to some approximation. We start by carefully setting up General Relativity (physics) and elastic theory (geophysics) background to be able to derive analytically the coupling between GWs and elastic solids through associated equations of motion. Once the analytical solution is derived, we explore the parameter space this interaction depends on. This eventually provides us with the transfer function, which defines the frequency band of the interest. We show how this interaction robustly depends on the regolith structure by altering the initial lunar model and exploring different regolith models. Our results show that detection might be troublesome in the high frequency regime between 0.1 and 1 Hz, without beforehand constraining the regolith structure with geophysical methods. Finally, we discuss what are the implications of detecting these signals with the future GW detectors build on the Moon.
title Modeling lunar response to gravitational waves using normal-mode approach and tidal forcing
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.09559